Unfold Your Own Myth
Who gets up early to discover the moment light begins?
Who finds us here circling, bewildered, like atoms?
...
But don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others.
Unfold your own myth, without complicated explanation, so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you. . . .
From The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
Check out the entire poem at
http://projectbebold.com/archives/722
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Earth's crammed with heaven
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries
From Aurora Leigh, Bk. VII, l. 812-826, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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Everything Is Best
When Banzan was walking through a market, he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.
“Give me the best piece of meat you have,” said the customer.
“Everything in my shop is the best,” he replied the butcher. “You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best.”
At these words Banzan became enlightened.
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
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Don't Change
I was neurotic for years.
I was anxious and depressed and selfish.
Everyone kept telling me to change.
I resented them,
and I agreed with them,
and I wanted to change,
but simply couldn’t,
no matter how hard I tried.
What hurt the most was that,
like the others,
my best friend kept insisting that I change.
So I felt powerless and trapped.
Then, one day, he said to me, “Don’t change.
I love you just as you are.”
Those words were music to my ears:
“Don’t change. Don’t change. Don’t change…
I love you as you are.”
I relaxed.
I came alive.
And suddenly I changed!
Now I know that I couldn’t really change
until I found someone
who would love me
whether I changed or not.
The Song of the Bird by Anthony De Mello
Who gets up early to discover the moment light begins?
Who finds us here circling, bewildered, like atoms?
...
But don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others.
Unfold your own myth, without complicated explanation, so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you. . . .
From The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
Check out the entire poem at
http://projectbebold.com/archives/722
_______________________________________________________
Earth's crammed with heaven
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries
From Aurora Leigh, Bk. VII, l. 812-826, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
_______________________________________________________
Everything Is Best
When Banzan was walking through a market, he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.
“Give me the best piece of meat you have,” said the customer.
“Everything in my shop is the best,” he replied the butcher. “You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best.”
At these words Banzan became enlightened.
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
_______________________________________________________
Don't Change
I was neurotic for years.
I was anxious and depressed and selfish.
Everyone kept telling me to change.
I resented them,
and I agreed with them,
and I wanted to change,
but simply couldn’t,
no matter how hard I tried.
What hurt the most was that,
like the others,
my best friend kept insisting that I change.
So I felt powerless and trapped.
Then, one day, he said to me, “Don’t change.
I love you just as you are.”
Those words were music to my ears:
“Don’t change. Don’t change. Don’t change…
I love you as you are.”
I relaxed.
I came alive.
And suddenly I changed!
Now I know that I couldn’t really change
until I found someone
who would love me
whether I changed or not.
The Song of the Bird by Anthony De Mello
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